EdCaffreyMS
"The Montana Bladesmith"
I've been ready to pull the trigger on purchasing a Carbidizer for a while now, but they have been out of stock in most places, and since I'm one who always weighs the cost versus return on any tool purchase, the nearly $400 made me hesitate.
With the Kansas City show close at hand, I wanted one for facing the locks on my folders. After a bunch of snooping around the web, the light came on. I have a Personalizer Plus (etcher), which is nothing more then a variable DC power supply. I ran to my local Ace Hardware store and picked up a Dremel vibratory etcher (looks exactly like the one the Carbidizer uses), and found some old broken carbide end mills.
After some trial and error, heres what I did.....
-Replace the scribe point in the vibratory etcher with a piece of broken carbide end mill (I use a lot of 7/64" carbide end mills, so thats what I used).
-Attached the positive lead/clip from the Personalizer plus to the tip of the vibratory etcher.
-Attached the negative lead/clip from the Personalizer plus to the work piece (in this case a scrap of titanium)
-Set the variable dial on the Personalizer plus to 3 (I've been through all the setting on the Personalizer Plus, but 2-3 seem to work best for my needs)
-Turn on the vibratory etcher (the dremel), and lightly apply the carbide tip to the item I want to carbidize..... it seems to work just like all the Youtube videos I reviewed. (Note: it seems that a sharp broken edge of the carbide lays down a better "coat" of carbide then a pointed or rounded end)
So, since I already had the Personalizer Plus, and the broken carbide end mills, I built myself a Carbidizer for the sum of $24.99 (the cost of the Dremel vibratory etcher).
I also remembered something Tracy had written about carbidizing the edge of a blade...... I found an old EBK (made of 1084) and gave it a go. I coated a single side of the blade's edge, then sharpened ONLY the side opposite the carbide...its ugly, and a rough edge due to the carbide on one side, but man does that thing cut and cut. The carbide really does a nice job of keeping titanium lock faces from being "sticky" too.
Man I love this knifemaking thing..... nearly 30 years of doing it, and I still get excited when I learn something new!
With the Kansas City show close at hand, I wanted one for facing the locks on my folders. After a bunch of snooping around the web, the light came on. I have a Personalizer Plus (etcher), which is nothing more then a variable DC power supply. I ran to my local Ace Hardware store and picked up a Dremel vibratory etcher (looks exactly like the one the Carbidizer uses), and found some old broken carbide end mills.
After some trial and error, heres what I did.....
-Replace the scribe point in the vibratory etcher with a piece of broken carbide end mill (I use a lot of 7/64" carbide end mills, so thats what I used).
-Attached the positive lead/clip from the Personalizer plus to the tip of the vibratory etcher.
-Attached the negative lead/clip from the Personalizer plus to the work piece (in this case a scrap of titanium)
-Set the variable dial on the Personalizer plus to 3 (I've been through all the setting on the Personalizer Plus, but 2-3 seem to work best for my needs)
-Turn on the vibratory etcher (the dremel), and lightly apply the carbide tip to the item I want to carbidize..... it seems to work just like all the Youtube videos I reviewed. (Note: it seems that a sharp broken edge of the carbide lays down a better "coat" of carbide then a pointed or rounded end)
So, since I already had the Personalizer Plus, and the broken carbide end mills, I built myself a Carbidizer for the sum of $24.99 (the cost of the Dremel vibratory etcher).
I also remembered something Tracy had written about carbidizing the edge of a blade...... I found an old EBK (made of 1084) and gave it a go. I coated a single side of the blade's edge, then sharpened ONLY the side opposite the carbide...its ugly, and a rough edge due to the carbide on one side, but man does that thing cut and cut. The carbide really does a nice job of keeping titanium lock faces from being "sticky" too.
Man I love this knifemaking thing..... nearly 30 years of doing it, and I still get excited when I learn something new!